OUR CAPITALS
Our Human Capital
TRANSFORMING SANBS THROUGH A DELIBERATE AND THOUGHTFUL CULTURE CHANGE PROGRAMME
With a vibrant and dynamic workforce, SANBS recognised the crucial need to embark on a transformative journey. In 2018, we initiated the process of collaboratively crafting an ambitious culture known as our DNA, the SANBS Formula. This involved all employees to discover what was required for SANBS to be ‘Trusted to save lives’, and make it come to life in the hearts and minds of all our people.Our ethics management baseline assessment plan commenced in 2018 and we have made remarkable progress since then. The journey included an intentional approach to the culture journey. Recognising that the appropriate culture must support strategy implementation, the leadership committed to annual employee engagement feedback with deliberate leadership reflections and development.
Commitment from the leadership team to constantly review the ‘own impact’ on the people they work with resulted in improved communication across the organisation. This required careful consideration and application of the organisational design tactics and tools. We continue to work in collaboration with the Ethics Office to ensure our roadmap remains on course to achieve an ethical culture. To this end we plan to implement our next ethics assessment in the new financial year to measure progress since 2018.
Appointment of ethics ambassadors
During the course of last year, the SANBS Ethics Management Strategy and Plan was enhanced with the appointment of ethics ambassadors to ensure a seamless integration into the purpose, vision and strategic goals, reinforcing the THREAD values. Ethics ambassadors were nominated by their colleagues to:
Promote and advocate for ethics in their respective areas of responsibility
Ensure that ethics remains high on the agenda for both formal and informal
Stimulate ethics talks in the organisation and encourage all employees to do the right thing
Good governance
An Ethics Committee is in the process of being established to formally track the progress of the Ethics Strategy Management Plan. This is driven by the Compliance and ethics officer with assistance from the Ethics Ambassadors.
Embracing diversity
To effectively alleviate prejudices and promote unity at the workplace, diversity must be celebrated. A good team and a strong business are made up of people with different backgrounds and experiences and we appreciate that this brings different points of view, with new perspectives to broaden our horizons.
Through our interactive webinars, called Learning Cafés, we encourage employees to speak up and share their points of view. This is supported by policies on elimination of all types of harassment at the workplace
Open and honest conversations
Understanding what is in the hearts and minds of our people takes place through the DNA culture survey. This encourages all employees to rate critical success factors for ensuring a fully motivated and engaged team to deliver on our very important purpose, being trusted to save lives.
The outcomes of the survey drive important conversations on topics that matter.
The single most important ingredient in the recipe for success is transparency because transparency builds trust. — Denise Morrison
Remuneration Report
Remuneration at SANBS is linked directly to successful execution of strategy and employees are rewarded for value delivered.
The organisation’s remuneration philosophy is aligned to SANBS’ iHEALTh Strategy (read more about SANBS’ strategic priorities) in that it ensures that employees are able to work towards and promote the achievement of strategic objectives within the organisation’s affordability.
Remuneration process
Our THREAD values lie at the heart of our philosophy
The remuneration approach is designed to support the behaviours, skills and superior/high performance required to underpin and embed the desired ethical organisational culture of accountability, excellence and performance.
The SANBS Remuneration framework is designed to support the attraction, engagement and retention of our key talent that drives business strategy and execution, by motivating employees through:
Strategic Planning
Developing iHEALTh Organisational Scorecard
Set Measurable Goals (Define KPI's and KPA's for all staff
Bi-Annual Performance Manangement Discussions
Reward and Remuneration
Rewarding key talent
As part of the broader talent management framework, our Remuneration Policy and practice includes pay progression opportunities for eligible employees. Rewards include financial and non-financial components. The revised remuneration approach also includes the development of dual career paths for specialist and certain management roles.
The organisation encourages career growth and mobility for all employees, while the organisation has also clearly identified business imperative roles.
During the period under review, management was able to process wage increases implemented at the start of the financial year, settle the annual salary negotiations and process salary increases without disputes being referred to the CCMA for mediation.
As part of the total rewards approach, the RAD Academy supports the structured learning opportunities, enhanced digital learning opportunities and career growth to support the employee value proposition.
Employees are encouraged to keep their skills sets updated and continuous professional development is acknowledged, by means of certificates when studies or programmes are completed. Whether funded by SANBS or self-funded, we acknowledge the commitment of our employees to self-development.
Non-financial rewards (cross collaboration opportunities) such as inter divisional projects and collaborations are valued as an important part of individual development and inclusivity. Individual coaching is available for employees who request it, especially newly appointed leaders.
Remuneration governance
The governance of remuneration falls under the scope of the Human Capital Management division and the Human Resources and Remuneration Committee (HR and Remco), which in turn advises the Board. The Board approves the business strategy and targets at the beginning of every financial year, and thereafter reviews the results at the end of the financial year before making a final decision regarding the payment of any incentives (if applicable).
Equitable reward and remuneration (race and gender parity)
SANBS is committed to remaining sustainable while placing equal importance on the equitable rewarding of our valued employees. Our philosophy is meant to attract, develop, retain and celebrate the successes of our individual employees within the context of our altruistic mandate of being “Trusted to save lives”.
In the previous reporting period, management conducted a pay equity exercise to determine if there are any inequalities in pay across race and gender. The outcome of the exercise was that there is no material inequality in the way the organisation remunerates employees across race and gender. The differences that were identified were due to the length of tenure of various employees.
It is the organisation’s philosophy that no employee should be paid below the minimum of the applicable salary scale, and this is verified through a process conducted by internal auditors annually. Our role profiles are reviewed regularly for accuracy and our job grading process is conducted independently to ensure alignment to industry benchmarks.
The organisation's uses the services of independent remuneration service consultants to review and benchmark remuneration levels on a regular basis. During FY23, 21st Century performed this benchmarking of SANBS employee remuneration.
Although SANBS is a not-for-profit organisation and therefore not ordinarily able to afford to remunerate its employees in accordance with the private sector market-related salaries and incentive bonuses, the remuneration scales and policies are benchmarked with similar size organisations nationwide. This is in keeping with the recommendations made by the consultants as SANBS competes in the market for several specialist/specialised skills. See SANBS’ annual financial statements for disclosure of remuneration paid.
The organisation’s rewards programmes are guided by the following policies which are reviewed annually for relevance by the Human Resources and Remuneration Committee.
Remuneration Performance Management Discretionary Bonus Pay Progression (providing a “dual career ladder” opportunity for employees in specialist roles)
The main objective is to ensure that the organisation’s remuneration policies and talent management practices are fair, inclusive, competitive and in line with best practice.
| The organisation’s remuneration structure is designed holistically to achieve optimal performance and consists of monetary and non-monetary rewards | |
|---|---|
| Guaranteed | SANBS employees are remunerated on a Total Cost of Employment (TCE) basis, which is the base pay excluding fringe benefits, and the salary increases for management and employees are performance-based. For union members who are in the bargaining unit, their salary increment is negotiated with the labour partners annually. The SANBS Board approves all salary increases annually |
| Benefits | All employees are eligible for fringe benefits such as retirement funds, healthcare, life cover, dreaded diseases and disability cover. Employees within the bargaining unit also qualify for other benefits such as overtime and various allowances |
| Incentive Bonus | SANBS employees are currently eligible for a performance-related incentive bonus, which is equivalent to a 13th cheque, if specific approved targets and metrics are achieved in the applicable financial year |
| Recognition | Informal recognition and celebration of achievement (Long Service Awards); Formal awards for recognition of extraordinary achievement and service above and beyond the call of duty. Long Service awards are a unique celebration at SANBS. Birthday vouchers were also introduced from January 2023 |
Looking Forward
The remuneration landscape in SANBS has been reviewed and looking ahead, various elements of the reward philosophy will be explored to come up with the most appropriate rewards mix to cater for our various employee demographics.
Considering the economic climate SANBS is also exploring ways to give employees more flexibility in their remuneration structure. We will always endeavour to educate our employees about the best options for their future security.
We continue to refine our remuneration philosophy and will ensure our pay scales are appropriate through ongoing benchmarking. Working with our labour partners, individual employees inputs through our “family meetings, and based on the THREAD values, we also incorporate employee views on what constitutes appropriate rewards’ mix.
Non-Executive Director remuneration
Further to the remuneration of SANBS employees, the Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) who comprise the governing body are remunerated for the work they do.
To ensure fair remuneration commensurate with their responsibilities, SANBS ensures that the requirements of the Companies Act No. 71 of 2008 and King IV Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa, 2016, Principle 14, are aligned with the organisation’s policy and practices in this regard.
To this end, SANBS has a NED Remuneration Policy which sets out the key principles related to the fees of NEDs and to provide a framework for the Company to attract and retain qualified and experienced NEDs to drive the Company forward, while keeping it under effective control.
The principles that underpin this Policy are:
NED fees consist of three components – a monthly retainer, meeting fees and special fees.
The National Council in accordance with the Memorandum of Incorporation approves the fees of the NEDs.
Accountability and disclosure
In the interest of transparency, below in the table, containing the elements of NED fees, are the amounts paid to each director during the reporting period, with comparative figures for the prior year.
| Name | 31 March 2023 R’000 |
31 March 2022 R’000 |
|---|---|---|
| Ansie Ramalho | 695 | 693 |
| Faith Burn | 493 | 506 |
| John Black (Joined 20.11.2021) | 484 | 105 |
| Shauket Fakie | 661 | 551 |
| Caroline Henry (Joined 20.11.2021) | 500 | 98 |
| Patricia Knox (Retired 20.11.2021) | - | 411 |
| Gary Leong | 529 | 456 |
| Thabo Mokgatlha | 616 | 429 |
| Lerato Molefe (Joined 22.11.2022) | 121 | - |
| Phindile Mthethwa | 504 | 447 |
| Rob Theunissen (Retired 20.11.2021) | - | 415 |
| Monica Vaithilingum | 555 | 492 |
| Total | 5 158 | 4 603 |
PricewaterhouseCoopers is the independent external consultant that assisted with the Non-Executive Directors (NED) fee benchmarking in FY23. The comparator group chosen for this benchmarking exercise consisted of JSE-Listed companies of approximately the same size from mainly the health and logistics industries.
The number of Board meetings and committee meetings attended by the various NEDs are reported here.
